Process for reducing ores and metals.



W. H. KELLY.

PROCESS POR RBDUUING @RBS AND METALS.

APPLICATION FILED 4AUG. 17I 1908.

Patented Apr. 23,1912.

-To allI whom it may concern.'

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM II. KELLY, or Los ANGELEscALIFoaNIA.

ff rnocnss Foa'aEnUcING oaEs am) mm'rans.

Be it known Athat I, WILLIAM H. KELLY, a citienof the United States, residin at Los Angeles; county of Los Angeles, tate of California, have inventeda new and useful Process for Reducing Ores and Metais, of which the following isa specification.

- This invention relates toprocess and aption therefrom of sulfur,

aratus lfor reducing oresv and metals, and 1s articularly intended for the reduction of Iron and other metals,.and the elimina- Y phosphorus, etc., although it is applicable 1n other connections. s h

-In m application Serial No. 445,566, filed July .2 1908, I have disclosed a process lfor treatment of metals b introducing into the mass of metal super cated steam containing nascentoaygen and hydrogen, the

object of the process in that case being to purify the metal after it hasl been reduced. The present invention relates` to a process' and apparatusfor treatment of metals in and durin the reduction thereof.

The main object of the invent-ion is to provide a' rocess and means whereby sulfur,' phosp orus and other deleterious impuritles may be eliminated from metal during the smelting thereof..

A further object of my invention is to provide a process and means of melting or reducing lores or metals in-a quick and etlicacious manner. p

A further object of the'inventionY is to rovide for the reduction in -such'.manner that both the metal andthe slag have a maximum iuidity,l thereby providing an effectual separation of the slag from the metal.

The essential features of the i subjecting the ore or metal durin the smelting operation to a gas derived om steam, which has been heated to such a temperature as to partly .dissociate it into oxygen and hydrogen, the application of this gas to thc ore or metal being made under such conditions that the oxygen and hydrmgen are in a nascent state or condition.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. Figure 1 is a vertical section of the furnace. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line :n-m2 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse Section on the. ine :v3- Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is L side elevation of the furnace and ofthe System for supplying the dissociated water hereto; the retortor heater for dissociating ,'Bpecicatlon of Letters Patent.

Application Med August 17, 1908. Serial No. 448,971.

process are :Patented Apr. 23, 1,912;

inA shown partly in section.

he apparatus comprises the smelting chamber' 1,- which may be 'a blast furnace of the usual construction, with a shaft 2 and b oshes 3. The chamber is open at the top to enable it to be charged with ore, etc., in the usual manner, and is provided at the lower portion thereof with the usual twyers 4 to enable gases oi' air to be blown into theA charge, and with tapA hole 5., and a slag hole 6. l Above the level of the twyers are provided pipes 7, 8, preferably arran ed 1n a plurality of series or rows one above e other. or example, row 7 may enterthe boshes of the blast furnace chamber at the melting zone, and an upper `row 8 mayl enter the shaft of the blast furnace at the reducing zone. Pipes '7,8 are connected to a main pipe 9, leading fromV the retort or heater 10, ,consisti of a coil or chamber 11 inclosed in afsuita le furnace 'chamber 12, yand'adapt-y ed to bel heated by the burner-means .13, this chamber or coil 11 Ybeing connected by pipe 14 to a steam boiler or generator 15. As it is intended that the steam should be heated in the retort to a temperature above red heat, vit is preferred to inclose lthe coil or chamber 11 in a protecting coating or bed'l of refractory metal.

rovided in the connection 14 rom the urner- `to the retort, to control the suppl of steam to the retort. Myinvention is not limited to the special mannerof application of the pipes 7 8 to the blast furnace or the special construction of the blast furnace. In order, however, tol rotect the blast furnace walls as far as possib e from bein burned out by t-he corrosive action of the Jet of dissociated oxygen and hydrogen issued from said pipes, the pipes 7 at the narrow part of the blast furnace may enter tangentially so as to produce a swirl distributing the gases equally throughout the heat zone and allowing them to mingle with the heat producing elements as wcll as contacting with the molten metal and slags. Further oxygen and hydrogen is admitted by pipes 8. By directing these pipes obliquely upward into the shaft of blast furnace 1, an upward draft is induced on the gases in the lower portion of the furnace, which causes them tn fiow upwardly and commingle with the gases admitted by pipes 8. The hydrogen thus added to the I steam nascent oxygen and hydrogen becoke,

A valve 17 is the blast furnace hydrogen admitted by pipes 7 furnishes a large excess which combines with the sulfur and other impurities in the heating zone. The pipes 8 pass through jacket 19 of the blast furnace and are insulated so as to retaiihthe heat of the dissociated gases.

The smelter having been charged and set in operation in the usual manner, steam is turned on fromV the boiler' and assing throu h the heater or retort 10 is su jected to suc high temperature that it is partly dissociated into oxy the instant of dissoclatig, the oxygen and hydrogen are ina nascent state, and the dlssociator or retort 10 is.located so closeto and the 9, 7 8 are so protected against loss o eat, that this nascent condition continues and exists in the oxygen and hydrogen when' they are discharged from the pipes 7, 8 into the blast lthe higfh u furnace chamber. The gas thus directed from the pipes 7, 8 to the blast furnace chamber is possessed of the following properties. It consists of oxygen and hydrogen in the nascent state, and the temperature' is so hi h that it approaches or may even exceed t at of the charge at the point where the oxygen and hydrogen is introduced). Immediately upon entering the charge the nascent oxygen and hydrogen combine with the contents of the charge for which it has the greatest affinity, the oxygen combining partly with the carbon toform carbon Inonoxid the reactions of which with the iron ore and carbon follow the usual course; another art of the oxygen combines directly with t e iron, but is released therefrom inthe subsequent operations in the usual manner; a further part of the oxygen combines with the silicon, which in connection with iron and the other substances resent, forms slag.

The hydrogen of the dissociated steam at temperature stated combines with the su r, phosphorus, arsenic, etc., mixed with or combined with the metals and removes them from the metals, and the products of combination of hydrogen with these substances being gaseous, such products will pass upwardly and be discharged at the top of the blast furnace. In so far as these products may be consumed Within the blast furnace they will combine With-the slag in preference to the metal.

The above described heat, which is added to ing in the charge, and in the nascent oxygen and hydrogen supply, so that the temperature of the char e 1s considerably above that usually attaine even with the hot blast. The supply of oxygen and hydrogen at the upper row of pipes serves to produce a cleaner and more rapid smelting or reduction as stated, and the supply of nascent reactions produce that already existoxygen and hydrogen at the lower row of,

e process is carried out as follows en and hydrogen; Atv

4of the melting zone.

i gen furnis e pipes serves to ncreasethe fluidity of the .mation of sows on the walls of the blast furnace isprevented.4 It will be understood that the solid portions of the charge arches over the boshes in the usual manner and that the melting zone and metal as it melts and collectsin drops is immediately subject-ed to the action of the nascent gases from the. pipe 7.' This action continues as the metal passes through the open structure The swirling action due to the tangentialarrangement of pipes 7 Acauses the metal in this condition to be subjected uniformly'- to the action vof the nascent gases. M l

In the reaction of the hydrogen with the sulfur, phosphorus, etc., in tllie reducing zone, these substances pass olf in a reduced form, and the process 1s preferably so carried out, that t ey are discharged from the blast-furnace in that form, thereby obviating the objectionable results of discharging corrosive gases such as sulfur dioxid into the atmosphere.

An important advantage of the process is that it not only puriiies the iron and frees it from slag, but it puriIies the slag freeing it from iron and other impurities, except in so far as the sulfurand phosphorus may be carried into the slag by secondary reactions. Themain advantages of the process, however, relate tothe purity of the produced metal, especially as regards freedom from sulfur and phosphorus, and to the economy ofthe process. In regard to economy the process presents the advantage that the amount of air blast-needed can bel reduced in ro ortion to the amount of oxyby the dissociated steam. The oxygen being the only active agent in the air last, the supply of oxygen in the dissociated steam not only correspondingly reduces the amount of oxygen needed in the air blast, but supplies the oxygen in a more available and purer form. Furthermore, in

y the air blast the oxygen is diluted with four times its volume of inert nitrogen, whereas in the dissociatedl steam the two mixed gases are both available in the process, as above described. The economy of the process i8 especially apparent where a hot blast is used as it avoids the heating of the equivalent quantity of air blast, and in view of the large proportion (about 80 per cent. by volume) of inert or useless nitrogen in the air blast, this saving in heating is large. The comparative freedom from nitrogen is of" advantage, not only in reducing the amouni of material to be heated and to be blown through the furnace, but it is of direct chemical'advnnta e with some ores, owing to the injurious-e 'ect iof nitrogen with such ores, by the formation of cyanogen. Tomake one ton of iron by the use of the ordinary air blast requires from one-half million to one million cubic feet of air in order to secure the requisite action of the oxygen, ac-

y cordin 10 to stock, ctc., and the savin in expense inv reducing the amount of air blastf particularl where the air blast is heated, is ver consi erable.

hat I claim is:

1. The process of reducing and melting metals from ores which consists in subjectv-ingthe ores to the action of nascent oxygen and hydrogen at a high temperature.

2. The process of reducing and melting metals from ores which consists in subjecting the ores to the action of nascent oxygen `and hydrogen at a temperature above the dissociating point of steam.

.5. The process of reducing and melting metallic ores in a chamber which consists in applying at aportion of said chamber a supply of nascent oxy en and hydrogen to reduce the ore and-applying at a lower portion of the chamber a sup 1y of nascent oi'rygen and hydrogen obtained from dissociated steam to melt and urify the ore. 6'. The process which consists in smelting a metallic ore by the reaction thereon of carbon under the heat of an air-blast and .simultaneously applying to the ore a supply of oxygen and hydrogen at a temperature above the dissociating point of steam, thereby raising the temperature of the ore above that of the normal smelting operation, and causing the sulfur and hosphorus of the ore to be removed from the metal by combination with the hydrogen.

7'. The process of reducing metallic oresv containing sulfur, phosphorus and other substances `forming chemical combinations with the hydrogen at high temperatures; which consists in applying to such ores hydrogen andv oxygen at a temperature above the dissociating point of steam.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this A11th day of August 1908.

WILLIAM H. KELLY.

In presence of- F. M; TOWNBEND, A. P. KNIGHT. 

